1887-1903
179
7
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.
Trade" which is attributable, inter alia, to the failure of the rice crop and to the increased river steamer traffic.
TRADE.
The trade of 1897 was on the whole unsatisfactory from a local point of view, and more especially in imports, which were adversely affected by the low rate of exchange and the scarcity of the circulating medium-factors which not only restricted business but greatly curtailed profits.
In cotton piece goods business opened dull, but improved; during the summer a healthier tone prevailed, transactions being above the average of recent years, due possibly to some stimulus derived from the opening of the West River in June, but later in the year an adverse exchange restricted demand, while at the close business came to a standstill owing to the extreme tightness of money. The result was a falling off in the volume of business as compared with 1896, and this was even more marked in the case of fancy and woollen goods.
The trade in English cotton yarns compared favourably with that of the preceding year, and is reported to have been profitable to dealers, but the margin of profit to importers was slender.
Compared with the business transacted in 1896, the trade in Indian yarns must be pronounced as unfavourable. The prevalence of plague in Bombay, the prohibition of import into Tonkin during three months of the year, the violent fluctuation in rupee exchange, and the serious fall in the dollar prices of yarn during the final quarter of 1897 combined to check the import of the Indian product and promote that of its Japanese rival.
In metals and sundries a fair business was transacted although not very profitably to importers, the fluctuations of exchange and tightness of money serving to handicap operations.
Although the import of foreign opium showed a slight increase over that of 1896, the trade in this commodity proved generally very unprofitable, chiefly on account of the unfavourable exchange between India and China. The native drug, owing to the high rates asked for the Indian product, is gradually but steadily replacing the latter in the Chinese markets.
The volume of the import of flour in 1897 was somewhat less than in the previous year (3,312,116 quarter sacks, as against 3,831,499 quarter sacks in 1896) consequent on the higher rates prevailing, but the trade was profitable to importers, who for the most part had bought forward at prices much lower than those ruling on delivery.
The trade in kerosine oil continues to show a steady increase, the import both in case and in bulk comparing favourably with that for 1896.